When I first played Mario Sports Mix at E3 last year in June, I had an absolute blast. The demo started out as a fun, friendly affair at Nintendo's booth on the show floor, but it quickly turned into an aggressive quest for bragging rights between myself and one of the developer's reps. It felt a little strange being stirred to such levels of competitiveness by Mario, Yoshi and the rest of the gang, but I remember heading back out into the trade show marking the game down as a title to keep my eye on the coming months. Now that it's arrived, I can report that while the multiplayer remains as fun and compelling as ever, Mario Sports Mix, sadly, is let down a little by its single-player experience.

There are four sports packaged in Mario Sports Mix – basketball, volleyball, ice hockey and dodgeball – along with a small collection of party games. The controls are pretty similar for all four sports and players spike, slam and shoot balls (or pucks) by hitting buttons and waggling the Wii-mote. There's no attempt to take any of the sports seriously. All the gameplay has a distinctly ramshackle, arcade feel to it and players can pick up items (such as banana skins and shells) and use power-ups to gain the edge on their opponents.

The best of the bunch is ice hockey, probably because the chaotic, speedy nature of the sport lends itself easier to Mario Sports Mix's arcade-style of play. Basketball and volleyball aren't bad either – the former is like a paired down Mario-themed version of EA's NBA Jam and the latter offers solid two-on-two action. Dodgeball is the runt of the litter; instead of players leaving the court when they're hit by the ball, they have an energy bar which depletes with every ball that bounces off them. Also, the way the ball floats languidly through the air makes it quite hard to hit anything at all.

As with every single Mario title for the Wii, Mario Sports Mix is filled to bursting with vibrant colours, the soundtrack is adorable and it features a list of classic characters (with different advantages and drawbacks) from the Mario-verse. Players can also choose to play with their Nintendo Mii's, although this means they don't get any of the Mario character advantages. There are a decent amount of environments in which to stage competitions, and some of them toss in their own signature obstacles and gimmicks to make the gameplay more varied.

Mario Sports Mix offers a Campaign Mode, in which players compete in three tournaments in each of the four sports. Playing solo reveals the game's main weakness, however, as the AI is ridiculously easy to beat – one would say laughably so, if this factor wasn't so detrimental to the game as a whole. As has been mentioned, the multiplayer experience is far more fun, and it's in this mode that Mario Sports Mix reveals its true colours.

There are two types of party video games. There are those party games which can be enjoyed by solo players, but improve with each added participant (such as Wii Sports Resort and Rock Band 3). And then there are those which depend on multiple players taking part for users to get the best possible gaming experience (such as Just Dance 2). Mario Sports Mix is a Trojan Horse, in this regard; it's a party game masquerading as the former type, but in truth belongs in the latter camp.

The fact that the game looks and plays so well clouds this issues begin with, but after humiliating the AI for the umpteenth time, players will either give up on Mario Sports Mix, or try their luck against some human opponents. Those who make the latter choice are in for some fun; taking on a human opponent means that every dodge, shot and block becomes crucial and knowing when to deploy a power-up can mean the difference between winning and losing a match. Players can play locally – in a four-person two-on-two match – or online – with two players to each Wii console.

The multiplayer is so much fun that it's almost enough to forgive the game's solo-mode shortcomings. In fact, a few more sports which compliment that mode, or indeed, a more challenging AI would have been sufficient to bump up the game's overall score in this review. As it stands, Mario Sports Mix feels a little too much like a lightweight party game. Make no mistake, players can have a lot of fun with it, but their enjoyment will be inexorably linked to whether or not they can get some friends to join in.